To Deal With The Enemy
by Lilly Dragon
Summary: UPDATED! Ch. 1 up! YayWhen a Zerg Crerbrate befriends a sardonic and bitter human Medic, all hell breaks loose as it tries to choose between its new human allies and its fellows in the Swarm.
1. Prolouge

Prologue – Just Another Spawn…/ The False Marine

The Drone's metamorphosis was complete. For the first time in its brief life, it felt intelligent thought come to its puny consciousness and sprout like a seed. As the tendrils of this new ability fused with the beast's paltry brain, it opened a pair of obsidian eyes. With a shriek, the colony's first Hydralisk tore from its cocoon with scythe-like claws and beheld its new world. The other three drones that had been feeding, cleaning and caring for the once-larval Hydralisk fell back, their cries echoing of confusion, sanctified reverence, and awe. The Hydralisk blinked and rubbed the cocoon's remaining membranes from its face with long, nimble, three-fingered hands as its young eyes fell upon its colony. The Drones made a motion that can best be described as a bow, falling to the ground before their new flesh-and-blood chief.

"_Cerebrate…"_

The voice spoke from everywhere and nowhere. Only the Hydralisk heard its voice, gazing around in confusion and perhaps a bit of recognition. One Drone hooted in impatience.

_"My Cerebrate…" _Now the Hydralisk suddenly realized what the voice was: its master, the Overmind itself! It let loose a peal of snarls and screeches, causing two more Drones which had approached, curious of this winged monstrosity, to scurry away in terror, uttering scratchy growls of fright._ "Behold your new colony!"_ Said the Overmind;_ "I do hope you care for it well… Knowing that you are the first Cerebrate in a mobile form, let it be recognized that I will not tolerate failure, Zasknar." _

The Hydralisk abruptly felt it had a name. Zasknar. Yes, a perfect name for a perfect being. Zasknar screeched in delight, pleased to hear from its lord, and sent a psionic confirmation to its Overmind. Stretching out as if from a long sleep, it arched its wings - the only sign that it was indeed special, different, superior to all others, save the Overmind itself. With a hiss, Zasknar made its move and ordered one of its former caretakers to morph into a new Hatchery. It would need far more Drones in the colony in order to explore Zasknar's new kingdom.

On the same planet, a mere

seven-hundred clicks away...

Katherine Billings groaned in ire. Only less than a week since she arrived as a Medic here, and already the other cadets were calling her "Dr. Billings" not "Miss Billings" or even simply "Kate". She found it more than slightly uncomfortable, being the only Medic in the outpost, but it was what Commander Biggs wanted her to do; train others in her talent.

Sometimes she wondered if she would be able to keep up with demand for her services.

The Marine in front of her kept poking his finger in her face, holding it like it was the fanged end of a snake and wailing like a banshee. The finger had been cut to the bone and was dangling by a thin sinew from his mangled hand. With a whir from the generator on her back, she swiveled in her chair and glanced down at the Marine. He was a smallish, pudgy Asian-looking man in his late thirties with narrow black eyes and wild black hair. She snorted in derision and with deft hands bandaged it with tack-wrap and boosted the wailing boy's metabolism with the healing energies she had gathered up earlier.

"You'll be okay sir." She said with a sigh. That kind of injury was very minor. The Marine would be back to work in half an hour sharp. "Just give it about an hour before you remove that bandage. Don't move that finger until half of that. Understood?"

The man nodded. He was quite a bit calmer now that all of his appendages were firmly attached. "So _you're_ the new Medic. I'm Lieutenant James Sakeó." He extended his healthy left hand, caked with the ruddy grime of the planet's soil. "Do call me James."

"Kate." Kate replied stoically. She turned away from Sakeó, ignoring his cordially offered hand, and back to the computer terminal she was working at. Striking a key, she brought up an analysis screen for the injury. Kate wondered briefly what could have done that, but shook it off. Guesswork was almost always just that, a guess, especially a guess without proof.

"Kate. Lovely name if I may say so." Kate's noncommittal look showed Sakeó her attitude toward him. Or maybe she was just being professional. He couldn't tell. "Anyhow, Dr. Kate," Kate looked to him over her shoulder at the sound of that cliché, "as I said, I'm the head Marine here. What's the status?"

Kate said nothing in return, but with a swift key-combination and voice command ("Status report: planet data: Saskri. Authorization level Beta."), she brought up a hologram of the planet; Saskri – a new planet recently colonized. Most of the holo showed a grayed-out landscape, representing areas as yet unexplored, but there was a small area with the colony's buildings and a tiny area around it displayed.

"As of now," she said, still tapping away at that computer, "nothing of prudent importance has been uncovered. Evidence of a possible Zerg nest," the holo glowed. A blinking red dot about two "inches" away from the colony's only bunker glowed into existence at the words 'Zerg nest', "was uncovered about two weeks ago. Three Marines have been reported MIA, with another's mangled and eviscerated body discovered yesterday. Autopsy showed that a Zergling attack had been his end. With the 'nest' size we've estimated, though, the Zerg colony should not have been strong enough yet to support more than two Zerglings. Commander Biggs has sent a new Ghost type to assist us in the investigation. Supposedly, this 'Ghost', dubbed a Shade, is a hybrid between Zerg and human genomes. Its hybrid nature may enable us to find out what the Zerg are up to."

Sakeó nodded. "I have heard of the Shade too. She, (or is it he?), is supposed to be the first mobile human-Zerg fusion since Kerrigan. I just hope the chick's still got her human brains for rationality. I don't want to fight another bitch like Kerrigan ever again." He shook his mop of a head side-to-side violently to emphasize the point.

Sakeó abruptly changed subjects, seeming to want to avoid the disturbing subject, "Rumor's got it that a new Overmind has grown from an advanced Zerg. What is the story on that bastard?"

Kate growled quietly. With the current population in the colony low, she had to perform a second job: security manager-in-chief. As such, she was in charge of keeping the people in line. Now, she suspected more than ever that Sakeó was not a Marine. She looked down the length of her nose, flipping her raven's-wing hair over her shoulder as she looked intently and angrily at Sakeó with her piercing green eyes. If she had one talent for extracting the truth, it was her razor-sharp "Tell me everything _now_!" stare.

"You're not really a Marine, are you, James?" She said sharply, well expecting the answer to be somewhat of a no.

Sakeó cringed under the scrutiny of her stare. He faltered for half-a-second, then lowered his head. "No…" he said guiltily, "I…I-I'm really an SCV pilot. I-I-I…I really did fight those damn Zerg and their concubine, Kerrigan, though…"

Katrina narrowed her eyes. _This might be a long day…_ she thought as the cringing Sakeó met her eyes timidly, head lowered in apparent shame. _A very long day… _


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- What is a Human? / Disclosure to the Commander

Zasknar was delighted with its colony's progress. It now had a sizeable armada of all manner of Zerg under its control, yet it longed for more. But more what? There was everything any Zerg could ever dream of here in the colony, so why did it feel so inadequate...? That was the burning question that occupied most of Zasknar's thoughts now. It stood near the Lair and, with a loud hiss, commenced its metamorphosis into a Hive as it pondered the strange sensation.

"_Zasknar..."_ Zasknar screeched in response, scaring two of the nearby Ultralisks and making them turn their razor-sharp scythes toward the sound. The Overmind had spoken once again! Zasknar turned its full attention to its lord, invisible and omniscient. _"I am most impressed with your progress thus far. You have been most satisfying to the Swarm and myself. Well done." _Zasknar gnashed its teeth in delight. The Overmind thought admiringly of its reign! What delightful rapture! Zasknar lashed its head and screeched its excitement to the sky with fervor, startling two of the nearby Hydralisks into snarl-pierced flight.

"_However," _Zasknar froze in place. Then, it sent a psionic order to a nearby group of Hydralisks to approach it. Zasknar somehow, in spite of the two Sunken Colonies and three Spore Colonies surrounding the infantile Hive, felt a bit insecure. It had the sense of impending danger, a completely alien phenomenon that it had never experienced before, yet it paid the emotion little heed. The Overmind was discoursing!_ "there exist those who wish the Swarm destruction." _Zasknar snarled, baring its fangs imposingly. An enemy! What, or who was it!? The Hydralisks buzzed in angst, sensing their master's resentment. Zasknar vowed to destroy the threat, no matter what it could be. _"These beings, those who call themselves 'humans' live in a colony to the south of the Lair." _Zasknar squawked in surprise as an image appeared before him. In the vision, Zasknar saw an event as though it were looking out of an Overlord's ventral sac.

Flying high above the surface, moving at a speed that not even a Zergling could match, the dream vision moved forward. Blurring before it, just as if in reality, the ground metamorphosed into an indiscernible line of red. Then, the view froze, hovering above a cluster of strange, gray, globular structures. Zasknar uttered a cry of question, but its confusion was only temporary. Out of the central dome, a small, blue-suited, bipedal animal emerged. Zasknar cocked its head, querying mentally if this was a "human". It suddenly got its answer as the Overmind sensed Zasknar's question.

"_Indeed, Cerebrate," _said the Overmind, _"this is one of the warrior class of humans. There appear to be several types of humans, but only two breeds. One must take caution, for when the two breeds of human combine, populations explode in number. This is what makes the humans so dangerous; their ability to generate large colonies rapidly." _Zasknar was bewildered, contemplating the vision as it dissipated. How could such a simple species survive if only two types existed? _"Humans are highly invasive, territorial, and steal our resources with no remorse. They think they are superior to us._" Zasknar hissed. Superior? How utterly absurd! Zasknar felt as if he could easily crush one of these frail beings with a single swat of his tail. Then again, even rats can be a menace if populations are allowed to reach a prolific enough size..._ "Teach them how the Zerg deal with intruders. I want you to destroy their colony. Level it to the ground! Go now, my Cerebrate! Do not fail me..."_

Zasknar snarled in fiendish cunning, hissing and gnashing both sets of jaws in ecstasy. A combat opportunity at long last! It knew that in order to destroy the colony, it would need more resources. The Drones were already mining two of the thickest crystal fields, but Zasknar needed more Vespene gas. Two of the Vespene geysers were empty, producing a fraction of the gas necessary for an army.

It was time. Zasknar yowled out a command to the smaller group of Ultralisks, calling them to join the Hydralisks. It was time to attack the humans' Vespene gas processor, and Zasknar was proudly confident that it would not fail the Overmind.

"What do you mean, 'he's a Marine now'?!?!" Kate demanded, pounding a fist on Commander Delta Biggs' desk in flabbergasted astonishment, "You know well that he lacks the training! Look at what happened earlier, Commander! He damn near amputated his own finger while accessing a Goliath's weapons compartment, and you expect to put him out on the field with such minimal-!?"

"Ms. Billings." Delta said crisply, her back to the Medic as the young blonde continued to stare out the window, "I am aware of the lack of field experience. I am also aware of his experience with Kerrigan; that is what we need from him."

Kate sighed and put a hand to her face in exasperation. "Look, I know we're kinda short-handed here," she tried, hoping to explain to the Commander the gravity of such a transfer, "but we also cannot afford any casualties. I know, I know. I'm only a Medic. What do I know about military strategy? But this is a matter of security too, don't you see?!" Kate folded her arms and leaned against the faux-mahogany wall. "Do you realize what harm he could cause if he decides to go blabbing this information he knows off to just anyone who'll listen? The Council's gonna have none of this 'Shade' business, to say nothing of the suspected Overmind! They'll want Saskri nuked to the core! Then what'll you have to say about the colonization? "

Delta idly wound a blond lock of hair around a finger. Slowly, she turned to Katrina, setting her sharp, steely-blue eyes on her face and leaning over the desk at her. "Do you always think we've been so ignorant, Ms. Billings?" She pulled a small remote out of her breast pocket. A wickedly proud and cunning look crept onto Delta's face as she tapped at the cover with one long, red fingernail. "With a single touch of this button, I can call our Shade."

"Now, what does the Shade have to do with Sakeó, you might say?" Delta sneered, a dangerous look on her pale, deceptively delicate face. "Our Shade has an...ability...which allows it to read into the thoughts of humans _and_ Zerg. If it detects anything out of the ordinary, it will inform me promptly."

Katrina shook her head. "I still don't like this, Commander. I mean, we're breaking the chains of command here! I'm sure the Marines and Firebats won't have any of it. Hell, even the Ghosts are bound to get a bit pissy, and you know how hot-headed those Ghosts are... What's more, if someone decides to 'teach him a lesson'..." Katrina stamped a foot irately. "Commander, respectfully, I think this decision is nothing but madness. Everyone's gonna think its all part of some scandalous propaganda or lip-licking power scheme. _I_ think-!"

"Does it really actually _matter_ what you think?!" Delta roared, her face livid at Katrina's words. Katrina actually took a step back, shocked into a wide-eyed gawk by her superior's outburst. "Look, I know you don't get it. Hell, even _I_ hardly know myself! It's all orders from the Council." Delta bent closer, putting her long, spidery hands onto her desk as she leaned face-to-face with the astonished Medic. "So," she hissed, locking eyes with Katrina piercingly, "if you wanna reason stay to stay alive out in this shithole of a colony, then I suggest you shut up and stand down, _Lieutenant_!"

Katrina blinked and set her jaw, which had dropped open. "Commander..."

"I _said_, SHUT UP!" Delta pounded her fist on the desk, shaking the entire metal faux-oak piece.

Katrina was unsure of what to say or do. Never before had she seen this normally mild-mannered young woman anywhere near this aggressive and hot under her collar. For just a moment, Katrina actually worried a bit for her life as Delta's red-clawed hand slid down to the level of the .45 pistol at her belt, but was secretly relieved when she merely pulled a handkerchief out of a waist-pocket and wiped at her sweating face. Blushing redder than a maraschino cherry, she shook her head.

"...I apologize for that..." She atoned, tucking the kerchief into her pocket again, "Please, understand that this order comes from a higher chain of command. I don't have the jurisdiction to overrule such a bizarre transfer. Hell, it's even got the Shade all riled up like an impatient child! Very difficult to control the damned thing when he's so edgy..." Delta slid bashfully off of her desk and shooed Katrina with a wave of her hand. "You are dismissed."

Katrina gulped and saluted, struggling not to show that she had just been scared out of her skin. "Yes'm." Forcing herself not to run screaming out of the room in an effort to escape another blast of rage from her superior, she only managed a robot-like strut as she walked out of the room and towards her quarters in the Barracks.

_I was right..._Thought an exasperated Kate as she flicked her lengthy hair back over her shoulder, _It is going to be a long day...Oh joy, joy, rapturous joy. Feh._


End file.
